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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23322823">An Action Worth a Thousand Words</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabinethesoprano/pseuds/sabinethesoprano'>sabinethesoprano</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adrien doesn't talk, Angst, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Ladybug is supportive, Sad Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, we stan ladynoir's friendship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:08:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,905</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23322823</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabinethesoprano/pseuds/sabinethesoprano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A conversation with his father leaves Adrien less than ok, but he's determined not to miss patrol with Ladybug, so he decides to just not talk. That will keep him from crying, right? </p><p>Ladybug knows better and comforts him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir &amp; Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>160</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>An Action Worth a Thousand Words</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As per tradition the first fic I post in a fandom is angst about my fave, but Ladybug said that Chat deserves better, so there's more fluff than originally anticipated. Hope you enjoy!</p><p>Shoutout to Sparks for being supportive as always and proofreading this.</p><p>TW: mentions of physical abuse but just a cheek slap, slight panic attack</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Adrien registers the sting on his left cheek, but he doesn’t really feel the implications until later.</p><p>“This is the third time,” his father is saying. To an outsider, Gabriel Agreste’s tone is as neutral as ever, but Adrien is able to detect the bitterness underneath. “This is the third time in two weeks that you have spent time with your friends without my explicit permission.”</p><p>Adrien drops his gaze to the immaculate tile floor but does not shift his posture to reflect his emotions. Agrestes do not slouch. “I’m sorry, Father,” he says. “It won’t happen again.”</p><p>“See that it doesn’t,” comes the curt reply. “I’m disappointed in you, Adrien. I thought I had raised you to be better.”</p><p>He thought that he would escape from this scolding unscathed, but as always, Adrien is wrong. His father’s words sting more than they should for the number of times that he’s endured them, more than the physical sting on his cheek. His facade is tough, but his heart is soft. He forcefully shoves down any bubbling emotions, hoping to never deal with them again. Agrestes are not bothered by their emotions.</p><p>“I will be taking a more active role in overseeing your schedule from now on,” his father continues. Adrien mentally kicks himself for being instinctively excited at that statement. “Go to your room, Adrien. You have piano practice to catch up on.”</p><p>He nods his head to avoid eye contact. “Yes, Father,” he says, voice distant and hollow. Trusting his muscle memory, Adrien makes his way up the grand staircase and down the hall towards his room, not failing to notice how the Gorilla stands just outside.</p><p>Once the door shuts, Adrien falls to the floor, suddenly sapped of the energy to do anything, let alone make the long journey to his bed or couch. For a few moments, he just exists. Even breathing is hard, but it’s much easier than thinking or feeling, so Adrien focuses on that. He can’t feel the floor, so maybe he’s floating in space, but also his shirt is tight and itchy and <em> bad </em>and -</p><p>“Kid? Kid! You’ve gotta get up!”</p><p>Right. Plagg.</p><p>Has it been an eternity? A few seconds? Suddenly, the world seems a bit more real, and Adrien registers a number of scattered pokes across his body. As he blinks to focus his vision, he notices something rolling down his cheek. Is he crying? Unacceptable. Agrestes do not cry. He sloppily wipes away the wetness starting to pool in his eyes and the few stragglers that have escaped down his cheeks. A black blob comes into his view, frowning.</p><p>“Kid,” Plagg says, softer than Adrien’s ever heard him before. If he didn’t know better, he would say that the kawmi is almost concerned. “Are you alright?”</p><p>Adrien opens his mouth to respond, but the pressure behind his eyes becomes too strong, and he has to squeeze them shut for a moment to will it away. Instead, he settles for a blank stare, waiting for the inevitable demand for Camembert. Why else would Plagg care so much?</p><p>The demand doesn’t come.</p><p>Sighing, Plagg swoops down and taps Adrien’s ring a couple of times. “You’ve gotta get up,” he says. “Patrol starts in five minutes, and you have to let Ladybug know that you’re not gonna make it.”</p><p>He begins to protest but inhales sharply to cut off a sob, which then turns into a coughing fit. Once Adrien has recovered, he frowns and raises his eyebrows at Plagg, hoping that the nonverbal message is clear enough. There’s no way in hell that he’s skipping patrol. If his Lady expects him to be there, then he’s going to be there. He would rather be spending his time with her than another damn second in this heartless mansion.</p><p>Plagg fixes him with a stare and shakes his head. “Kid, you can’t be serious. You are in no shape to patrol right now.”</p><p>Ignoring him, Adrien closes his eyes and tries to focus. He can feel the tears building up, threatening to pour out at a moment’s notice as soon as he thinks or speaks too much, but he has to risk it. These three words are the key to his freedom.</p><p>“Plagg, transforme-moi!”</p><p>He doubts the words are audible to even his kwami who hovers right in front of him, but they still activate the magic, and that’s all that matters. The familiar green light washes over him, and when it disappears, Chat Noir, renowned hero of Paris, is sprawled out on the floor instead of Adrien.</p><p>Though his head still feels foggy, the transformation gives Chat Noir enough strength to slowly pull himself to his feet. He leans against the wall, pressing into it for extra support and inhales. Then exhales. He can do this.</p><p>Ladybug is the most incredible and strongest person that he knows, and something in his stomach clenches when Chat Noir thinks of the possibility of breaking down in front of her. But so far, he’s done a decent job at warding off the tears. As long as he doesn’t speak, he’ll be fine. Patrols don’t require much conversation anyways.</p><p>Grabbing his baton, a slow and controlled movement, he pulls up the messaging feature and composes a brief message to Ladybug - <em> on my way, apologies in advance for the lack of puns milady &lt;3 </em></p><p>With that completed, he puts away his baton and rolls back his shoulders, straightening his posture. He smiles - it’s a bit more lopsided than his signature model smile but just as fake.</p><p>And then, ready as he’ll ever be, Chat Noir leaps into the night.</p><p>*****</p><p>Ladybug sits on one of the many rooftops of Paris, dangling her feet over the edge and admiring the stars. They’re rather clear tonight, as clear as they get in the bustling city, and the twinkling lights never fail to make her smile. It’s nice to have a reminder that she’s not alone, even through all of the crazy superhero secret identity parts of her life.</p><p>She glances at her yo-yo to check the time - ten minutes after the time Chat Noir and she had agreed upon for patrol. Sure, they regularly switch up the days and times that they meet so that Hawkmoth doesn’t learn their schedule, but Chat Noir has never been late before. In fact, he’s usually early, arriving well before her most of the time. Ladybug’s never been sure how he’s able to leave his home for so long without suspicion. </p><p>A notification from the yo-yo’s messaging function pops up, drawing her attention. She opens it, scans it quickly, and frowns. What sort of cryptic message is that? No puns is a relief if you ask her, but why would he choose to focus on that? At least Ladybug now knows that her partner will be here soon. They’ve only done solo patrols since the last akuma attack a couple weeks ago, and she misses his high energy and bold spirit. </p><p>Sure enough, Chat Noir lands lightly beside her only a few minutes later. She rises to greet him, expecting some sort of quip as usual, but it doesn’t come. Facing her partner, now a bit on edge, Ladybug does her best to not stare.</p><p>She likes to think that she knows her partner fairly well, especially for not knowing the basics like his name or his birthday. But she does know that he’s allergic to feathers and that he loves going to the park and that he always smells like Camembert because of his kwami and absolutely hates it.</p><p>And when you fight alongside someone, you learn their body language extremely well. In the heat of a battle, it becomes critical to know when even the slightest thing is off. So while an outsider probably wouldn’t notice, Ladybug observes how his disheveled hair is just a bit messier and how the bags hanging underneath his eyes are just a bit darker. His cheeks are flushed from the cool air and the run to meet here, but one is significantly brighter than the other.</p><p>Not only that but Chat Noir’s posture is rigid. Stiff shoulders are squared back, and he’s standing more still than Ladybug has ever seen, prepared to attack - or defend? The cat ears pressed flat against his head and the distant look in his eyes suggest the latter, but all Ladybug can say for certain is that something is very, very wrong.</p><p>All of this, of course, only makes his ear-to-ear grin and the elaborate bow he makes upon catching her eye seem out of place.</p><p>Ladybug rushes over to her partner, reaching out to touch his arm but freezing when he flinches back. His smile never once falters, and if she weren’t so concerned, Ladybug would be impressed. Does he practice maintaining it no matter the circumstance? Keeping her voice soft and hopefully welcoming, she asks, “Chat Noir? Are you alright?”</p><p>She ignores his slow nod because she already knows the answer, and the look in his eyes betrays him. But before she can say something else, he jerks his head and leaps over to the next rooftop. Chat Noir opens his mouth but then closes it quickly before gesturing out in front of him as if to ask her what she’s waiting for.</p><p>“I’m worried about you, chaton,” she says, swinging over to join him. “Did something happen?”</p><p>No reply comes as Chat Noir has already moved on, this time two rooftops ahead. Something tight clenches in her gut, and it strikes Ladybug for the first time that her partner has not said a single word so far. </p><p>His message from earlier hits her with full force, and she swallows heavily as she processes the implications of what Chat Noir had sent. He was trying to tell her in the way he knew how, and she had only taken his words at face value. Maybe she doesn’t know her partner as well as she thinks that she does. Sure, they are awful puns, but she doesn’t mind them, not really. And Ladybug would give anything to hear one of them right now.</p><p>She continues after Chat Noir, an endless pursuit where he always stays at least a couple rooftops ahead of her and leaves no room for conversation. There’s no point in trying to reach him when he’s like this - defensive, evasive, and likely very panicked - so Ladybug does her best to focus on the patrol itself. She’ll just have to wait for an opening.</p><p>That opening comes soon though not as soon as Ladybug would have liked. A bit over halfway through their route, Chat Noir stops suddenly, allowing time for his partner to catch up to him. She does so quickly but only has time to assess his expression before Chat Noir sways and stumbles right into her arms. On another day, he would say some cheesy pick-up line, and she would scold him for his clumsiness with no real heat behind it, but today is not that day, so Ladybug helps her partner sit, unnerved by how much of his weight he seems to be placing on her while still feeling abnormally light.</p><p>“Do you want to take a break, chaton?” she asks, her voice light and airy, barely a whisper.</p><p>She receives no response, not even a nod or shake of his head, but chooses to take it as a yes anyways because her partner definitely needs a break, whether he wants one or not. Sitting next to him, Ladybug briefly checks for any nearby civilians. Though from a distance it probably seems as though nothing is off, Chat Noir deserves privacy right now, and Ladybug is beyond grateful that they ended up in a quieter part of the city.</p><p>His eyes are cloudy and unfocused, but his cat ears are pricked and alert, so she decides it’s worth trying another simple, yes-no question. “Was today a bad day, Chat Noir?”</p><p>He hesitates for so long that she thinks a reply won’t come but then he nods slowly. Her partner still refuses to look at her, but it’s certainly a start.</p><p>“Well,” she continues, “there may be some bad parts, but today can’t be all bad. Do you know why?”</p><p>Chat Noir shakes his head.</p><p>“Because I get to see you today,” she says, placing her hand on top of his. She’s fully prepared to remove it, but he doesn’t flinch away. Instead, her partner finally turns to face her, the edges of his mouth curling up into a hint of a smile, and the night seems a bit brighter.</p><p>Sensing that he’s much calmer now, Ladybug leans into her partner, resting her head on his shoulder. She knows that it’s the right move when Chat Noir tilts his own head to lay on hers. For a moment they’re both quiet, breathing in sync, and Ladybug closes her eyes to savor every second.</p><p>“Once upon a time,” she starts, when the moment feels right, “there was a boy and a girl who led their separate lives, neither aware of the other. Until one day, they were brought together by fate or magic or maybe a bit of both and united against an evil that had risen.</p><p>“The girl had no confidence in her abilities, and the boy had perhaps too much confidence, but together they balanced each other out. That became the key to their partnership - balance.</p><p>“The evil continued to throw villain after villain at the pair, and with each battle, they grew stronger in both their different abilities and their ability to work together. Even though their separate lives were hidden away behind secret identities, the two became close friends in a very short amount of time. It didn’t matter if the girl didn’t know the boy’s birthday. She was there if he needed a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear, and that was what truly mattered.</p><p>“In the end, the boy and the girl triumphed against the great evil, and they were celebrated by the civilians for their acts of heroism. But more importantly, they were remembered for their everlasting friendship which always remained strong, even in the hardest of times. And they lived happily ever after.”</p><p>As she finishes, Chat Noir squeezes her hand, which he must have grabbed at some point during the story. He doesn't speak, but Ladybug realizes that it doesn't matter in the same way that she doesn't know his birthday. Her partner is with her - is anything else more important than that?</p><p>They stay there on that rooftop for what feels like hours, until the moon has reached its peak in the night sky. Chat Noir shifts first, pulling away from Ladybug and stumbling to his feet. Reluctantly, she follows, wishing not for the first time that she could have a peek at what her partner has been thinking. She's done her best to be nothing but a comfort but can only hope that she succeeded.</p><p>“I’m here for you, Chat,” she says. “You’re always won<em>purr</em>ful to be around.”</p><p>She expected her partner to be pleased by the pun but not like this. His jaw drops for a moment as he gapes at her in wonder, seeming to be searching for something to say but failing to grasp at anything. Then surely enough, the shock morphs into joy as he grins and his whole body seems to perk up. Ladybug can't recall the last time she saw him like this. Sure, Chat Noir's always carefree, but that happiness pales in comparison to the way he glows now. She catches his eye and the softness within, and Ladybug decides that she rather likes seeing her partner genuinely happy. She supposes that puns aren't so bad if this is the reaction she gets from using them.</p><p>He bows elegantly, not unlike his attempt at the beginning of patrol, but his genuine smile makes it all the more charming. Chat Noir then kisses her hand softly, delicately, as if it’s the most precious thing in the world. And then with a twirl of his baton, he disappears into the night.</p><p>Ladybug watches him go, smiling fondly when she realizes that he’s left in the direction of their patrol route. Even when he’s hurting, Chat Noir will never abandon his duty. She waits until he is completely out of sight before following the same course, mainly focused on going home. She trusts her partner to be thorough, and the bakery is conveniently near the end of the route.</p><p>And as Ladybug retires for the night, the stars shine brilliantly as if to say ‘thank you’.</p><p>*****</p><p>Once Adrien arrives back in his room, he waits until he is absolutely positive that Plagg is asleep before he finally allows himself to cry. However, not all of the tears that silently pour down his face are from sadness or anger due to his father. Many are tears of joy and gratitude for his Lady who surprised him with her support and comfort. When he finally succumbs to exhaustion, her story loops over and over in his mind, and he can't help but smile.</p><p>Adrien sleeps peacefully that night.</p><p>*****</p><p>And then, the next morning, a flustered Marinette is greeted by a fully verbal Adrien, any bruising artfully hidden with concealer. Class begins, and the day unfolds as if nothing of significance took place the prior night.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading, and I hope y'all are staying safe!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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